Arguably the only decent financial advice I ever received was to resume making my NI payments three years after arriving in Asia. So, at least I might get something in the way of a pension. It won't be much - but better than nothing. Assuming I make it to 66 (or is it 67?), that is.

That extra 5 years of contributions will probably deal the death blow to many a TEFLer's dream of getting a (full) state pension.

Even in the Gulf, precious few TEFLers under the age of 50 bother to keep their payments up.

Being a fastidious old fart, I, however, am not one of them.

That's putting things somewhat pessimistically.

The current rules are thirty years of payments required to qualify for a full state pension, which is currently £107.45 a week. This doesnít mean those with twenty-nine years, for example, will get nothing. They would get 29/30 of the full state pension.

The minimum number of years to qualify for any state pension payments is ten.

If you go to the link above and enter 10 years of NI payments, you see a weekly pension of £46.56. Twenty years gives a figure of £82.38.

So, itís still worth paying UK NI even if youíve no chance of qualifying for the full thirty (or thirty-five) years. For about £626 a year of voluntary contributions, you will get the above payments for the rest of your life. You only have to live four to five years after retirement to start making a profit. You wonít find a better value pension anywhere.

The current rules are thirty years of payments required to qualify for a full state pension, which is currently £107.45 a week. This doesnít mean those with twenty-nine years, for example, will get nothing. They would get 29/30 of the full state pension.

The minimum number of years to qualify for any state pension payments is ten.

If you go to the link above and enter 10 years of NI payments, you see a weekly pension of £46.56. Twenty years gives a figure of £82.38.

So, itís still worth paying UK NI even if youíve no chance of qualifying for the full thirty (or thirty-five) years. For about £626 a year of voluntary contributions, you will get the above payments for the rest of your life. You only have to live four to five years after retirement to start making a profit. You wonít find a better value pension anywhere.

I don't know if your comments are directed towards me, but if they are, (1) you'll see I said '(full) state pension', and (2) you're preaching to the converted. I'm quite up on the regulations for pension contributions - having back paid 11 years of missing contributions before a window of opportunity closed 4 or 5 years ago.

The joke is that many of the TEFLers who dismiss the state pension as a fool's gamble are the very same people whose only hope of an income in retirement is the state pension.

In my book, it should be seen as nothing more than some extra pocket money.

After seeing what has happened to my parents' (who scrimped, saved and forewent many of life's luxuries) pension/retirement plans.... I've no urge to make sure I make my full contributions. It seems that those who were/are reckless with their money get rewarded while those who actually save get punished.

Who knows what the U.K. will be like when I reach retirement age (another 40 years or so), but I've little confidence in the government's pension scheme.